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Gerard Ferrara, Senior Consultant ferrara@acer.edu.au Background to psychometric testing PMs Approached by a major recruiter of Project Directors and Project Managers who wanted to select and place high quality people in a range of key PM roles across Australia and overseas Desire to improve their selection process and use “best practice” methods Agreed that some form of objective testing of applicants should be part of the process

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Gerard Ferrara, Senior Consultant ferrara@acer.edu.au Psychometric tests – current state of play Increasingly being used in the selection and development of employees across Australia and the world The internet and online testing have resulted in a dramatic increase in the use of testing Most testing poorly conducted Great deal of misunderstanding, confusion, mystery, suspicion, scepticism and fear associated with psychometric testing

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Gerard Ferrara, Senior Consultant ferrara@acer.edu.au Research supporting the use of tests in selection Meta-analysis of 85 years of research in personnel selection Found that the 2 most valuable and valid approaches to predicting future job performance were: –The use of General Mental Ability (GMA) and integrity / conscientiousness testing (.65) – The use of GMA testing and a structured interview (.63) Schmidt and Hunter (1998) Psychological Bulletin, American Psychological Association